1 Corinthians 11 ¹You must follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

Rules for Worship

²I am proud of you, because you always remember me and obey the teachings I gave you. ³Now I want you to know that Christ is the head over all men, and a man is the head over a woman. But God is the head over Christ. ⁴This means that any man who prays or prophesies with something on his head brings shame to his head.
⁵But any woman who prays or prophesies without something on her head brings shame to her head. In fact, she may as well shave her head. ⁶A woman should wear something on her head. It is a disgrace for a woman to shave her head or cut her hair. But if she refuses to wear something on her head, let her cut off her hair.
⁷Men were created to be like God and to bring honor to God. This means that a man should not wear anything on his head. Women were created to bring honor to men. ⁸It was the woman who was made from a man, and not the man who was made from a woman. ⁹He wasn't created for her. She was created for him. ¹⁰And so, because of this, and also because of the angels, a woman ought to wear something on her head, as a sign of her authority.
¹¹As far as the Lord is concerned, men and women need each other. ¹²It is true that the first woman came from a man, but all other men have been given birth by women. Yet God is the one who created everything. ¹³Ask yourselves if it is proper for a woman to pray without something on her head. ¹⁴Isn't it unnatural and disgraceful for men to have long hair? ¹⁵But long hair is a beautiful way for a woman to cover her head. ¹⁶This is how things are done in all of God's churches, and that's why none of you should argue about what I have said.

Elisha Helps a Poor Widow

2 Kings 4 One day the widow of one of the LORD's prophets said to Elisha, "You know that before my husband died, he was a follower of yours and a worshiper of the LORD. But he owed a man some money, and now that man is on his way to take my two sons as his slaves."
²"Maybe there's something I can do to help," Elisha said. "What do you have in your house?"
"Sir, I have nothing but a small bottle of olive oil."
³Elisha told her, "Ask your neighbors for their empty jars. And after you've borrowed as many as you can, ⁴go home and shut the door behind you and your sons. Then begin filling the jars with oil and set each one aside as you fill it." ⁵The woman left.
Later, when she and her sons were back inside their house, the two sons brought her the jars, and she began filling them.
⁶At last, she said to one of her sons, "Bring me another jar."
"We don't have any more," he answered, and the oil stopped flowing from the small bottle.
⁷After she told Elisha what had happened, he said, "Sell the oil and use part of the money to pay what you owe the man. You and your sons can live on what is left."

Elisha Brings a Rich Woman's Son Back to Life

⁸Once, while Elisha was in the town of Shunem, he met a rich woman who invited him to her home for dinner. After that, whenever he was in Shunem, he would have a meal there with her and her husband.
⁹Some time later the woman said to her husband, "I'm sure the man who comes here so often is a prophet of God. ¹⁰Why don't we build him a small room on the flat roof of our house? We can put a bed, a table and chair, and an oil lamp in it. Then whenever he comes, he can stay with us."
¹¹The next time Elisha was in Shunem, he stopped at their house and went up to his room to rest. ^12-13He said to his servant Gehazi, "This woman has been very helpful. Have her come up here to the roof for a moment." She came, and Elisha told Gehazi to say to her, "You've gone to a lot of trouble for us, and we want to help you. Is there something we can request the king or army commander to do?"
The woman answered, "With my relatives nearby, I have everything I need."
¹⁴"Then what can we do for her?" Elisha asked Gehazi.
Gehazi replied, "I do know that her husband is old, and that she doesn't have a son."
¹⁵"Ask her to come here again," Elisha told his servant. He called for her, and she came and stood in the doorway of Elisha's room.
¹⁶Elisha said to her, "Next year at this time, you'll be holding your own baby son in your arms."
"You're a man of God," the woman replied. "Please don't lie to me."
¹⁷But a few months later, the woman got pregnant. She gave birth to a son, just as Elisha had promised.
¹⁸One day while the boy was still young, he was out in the fields with his father, where the workers were harvesting the crops. ¹⁹Suddenly he shouted, "My head hurts. It hurts a lot!"
"Carry him back to his mother," the father said to his servant. ²⁰The servant picked up the boy and carried him to his mother. The boy lay on her lap all morning, and by noon he was dead. ²¹She carried him upstairs to Elisha's room and laid him across the bed. Then she walked out and shut the door behind her.
²²The woman called to her husband, "I need to see the prophet. Let me use one of the donkeys. Send a servant along with me, and let me leave now, so I can get back quickly."
²³"Why do you need to see him today?" her husband asked. "It's not the Sabbath or time for the New Moon Festival."
"That's all right," she answered. ²⁴She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, "Let's go. And don't slow down unless I tell you to." ²⁵She left at once for Mount Carmel to talk with Elisha.
When Elisha saw her coming, he said, "Gehazi, look! It's the woman from Shunem. ²⁶Run and meet her. And ask her if everything is all right with her and her family."
"Everything is fine," she answered Gehazi. ²⁷But as soon as she got to the top of the mountain, she went over and grabbed Elisha by the feet.
Gehazi started toward her to push her away, when Elisha said, "Leave her alone! Don't you see how sad she is? But the LORD hasn't told me why."
²⁸The woman said, "Sir, I begged you not to get my hopes up, and I didn't even ask you for a son."
²⁹"Gehazi, get ready and go to her house," Elisha said. "Take along my walking stick, and when you get there, lay it on the boy's face. Don't stop to talk to anyone, even if they try to talk to you."
³⁰But the boy's mother said to Elisha, "I swear by the living LORD and by your own life that I won't leave without you." So Elisha got up and went with them.
³¹Gehazi ran on ahead and laid Elisha's walking stick on the boy's face, but the boy didn't move or make a sound. Gehazi ran back to Elisha and said, "The boy didn't wake up."
³²Elisha arrived at the woman's house and went straight to his room, where he saw the boy's body on his bed. ³³He walked in, shut the door, and prayed to the LORD. ³⁴Then he got on the bed and stretched out over the dead body, with his mouth on the boy's mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hand on his hands. As he lay there, the boy's body became warm. ³⁵Elisha got up and walked back and forth in the room, then he went back and leaned over the boy's body. The boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
³⁶Elisha called out to Gehazi, "Have the boy's mother come here." Gehazi did, and when she was at the door, Elisha said, "You can take your son."
³⁷She came in and bowed down at Elisha's feet. Then she picked up her son and left.

Elisha Makes Some Stew Taste Better

³⁸Later, Elisha went back to Gilgal, where there was almost nothing to eat, because the crops had failed.
One day while the prophets who lived there were meeting with Elisha, he said to his servant, "Fix a big pot of stew for these prophets."
³⁹One of them went out into the woods to gather some herbs. He found a wild vine and picked as much of its fruit as he could carry, but he didn't know that the fruit was very sour. When he got back, he cut up the fruit and put it in the stew.
⁴⁰The stew was served, and when the prophets started eating it, they shouted, "Elisha, this stew tastes terrible! We can't eat it."
⁴¹"Bring me some flour," Elisha said. He sprinkled the flour in the stew and said, "Now serve it to them." And the stew tasted fine.

Elisha Feeds One Hundred People

⁴²A man from the town of Baal-Shalishah brought Elisha some freshly cut grain and twenty loaves of bread made from the first barley that was harvested. Elisha said, "Give it to the people so they can eat."
⁴³"There's not enough here for a hundred people," his servant said.
"Just give it to them," Elisha replied. "The LORD has promised there will be more than enough."
⁴⁴So the servant served the bread and grain to the people. They ate and still had some left over, just as the LORD had promised.

Judgment on Israel

Amos 9 I saw a vision of the LORD standing by the temple altar,
and he said,
"Shake the columns until the tops fall loose,
and the doorposts crumble.
Then make the pieces fall on the people below.
I will take a sword and kill anyone who escapes.

²"If they dig deep into the earth or climb to the sky,
I'll reach out and get them.
³If they escape to the peaks of Mount Carmel,
I'll search and find them.
And if they hide from me at the bottom of the ocean,
I'll command a sea monster to bite them.
⁴I'll send a sword to kill them,
wherever their enemies drag them off as captives.
I'm determined to hurt them, not to help them."

His Name Is the LORD

⁵When the LORD God All-Powerful touches the earth,
it melts, and its people mourn.
God makes the earth rise and then fall,
just like the Nile River.
⁶He built his palace in the heavens
and let its foundations rest on the earth.
He scoops up the ocean and empties it on the earth.
His name is the LORD.

The LORD Is God

⁷Israel, I am the LORD God,
and the Ethiopians are no less important to me
than you are.
I brought you out of Egypt,
but I also brought the Philistines from Crete
and the Arameans from Kir.
⁸My eyes have seen what a sinful nation you are,
and I'll wipe you out.
But I will leave a few of Jacob's descendants.
I, the LORD, have spoken!

⁹At my command, all of you will be sifted like grain.
Israelites who remain faithful
will be scattered among the nations.
And the others will be trapped like trash in a sifter.
¹⁰Some of you are evil, and you deny
that you will ever get caught.
But you will be killed.

The LORD's Promise to Israel

¹¹In the future, I will rebuild David's fallen kingdom.
I will build it from its ruins and set it up again,
just as it used to be.
¹²Then you will capture Edom
and the other nations that are mine.
I, the LORD, have spoken,
and my words will come true.

¹³You will have such a harvest that you won't be able
to bring in all of your wheat before plowing time.
You will have grapes left over from season to season;
your fruitful vineyards will cover the mountains.

¹⁴I'll make Israel prosper again.
You will rebuild your towns and live in them.
You will drink wine from your own vineyards
and eat the fruit you grow.
¹⁵I'll plant your roots deep in the land I have given you,
and you won't ever be uprooted again.
I, the LORD God, have spoken!